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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Oct 28, 2021 10:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I’m regularity going over that written statement for the United Nations.



The length works with what we have to say and officially it is accepted by the Secretary General which is who we want to send it to. We should upload it in exactly on week from today. But yes, I feel nothing but relief that this is getting disseminated. That was the whole point of all of this. I have a vision for humanity and the way this adventure has gone demonstrates anyone can have influence in the world. That does not mean they will, but I defy anyone to say I didn’t have a shot at it after all these years.




So we shall submit and hopefully it gets accepted. If not, then I go directly to the Secretary General himself saying I have the new Social Contract he has asked for in more than one occasion to help humanity and this was our experience trying to give you what you asked for as an NGO in Consultative Status at the United Nations. So that’s the current plan.








Oh: The links for both of my side-events have been changed and will be updated. Here they are if you are interested:



Positive mandate for humanity:
https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1p/k1pld5d2wn


Worldwide vote:
https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1r/k1r09ten8r




In other news…..




I’m just paying bills and working on my cars as working on cars during the winter is not pleasant. I’m also paying bills and getting down to paying off the last of any outstanding debt the experiment and advocacy had. Being able to have done all this as an ordinary person with salary and with a mortgage and car payments should empower more people to do what I did.



Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/wUgkGUP4o9g
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 9:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Still working on the statement and will update stats I use there.



Some will say “why bother” but you just can’t tell. Mostly they say you will get nowhere as everything is against you. That is how they make it seem, but reality is that many there say one thing and probably think I another. Worldwide vote - nobody (or only a few) comes physically, and I could not get a room to videotape the session, but then someone high up offered me a room NGOs almost never get and I was good to go. So some say one thing and probably believe another and will quietly help you out. Then there are the ones that will have something pass by their desk but turn a blind eye to it and this let someone else do the right thing. Then there are those that tow the official line in a aspects - always these people. But freest expression in our social lives does have impact at the UN. This means for example that you can date and marry anyone you want and much of the world is not like this even where I live. So many will tow the official line publicly but privately still find you the opportunity to make your case there officially. In other words - I make the statement and submit it next week and go all out with what I have to say…..









Second thing is YouTube placing ads with videos that are not partners in the advertising program. So all of a sudden I got ads on our “Rise Unite” music video that appears in a few places on YouTube.




You can watch the music video here:

https://youtu.be/9LYEbWnxzYc




I’m not sure how it works but obviously they scan for totally inoffensive videos so my video gets a financial institution video playing before the music video and then the banner underneath while my video plays. And then they had a car ad underneath where before you just got suggestions for other videos. So far that is the only one given this treatment, but now at least I know why. Click the link and see if you get the ad or whether this thing requires your personal algorithm (I saw it not signed in more than once). We will see if this becomes permanent and if it becomes a threat to those in the partnership program. I will get nothing for the ads as I have no traffic, but they could at least add the video to more algorithms to give me something back…..







Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/q-Qn4DAGE4A
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sat Oct 30, 2021 6:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Most of the written statement for the Commission for Social Development is done and I’ve covered most of the bases. Now it’s just cutting it down to size and grammar and such. We should submit on Thursday.







Apart from that Saturday was a nothing day. I went early to the mall with the family to get out of the house on a rainy day. I finally fixed the links to view our side events at the UN. I fell asleep in the afternoon so at least I caught up on some sleep. The YouTube ads are fascinating to me. Our music video “Rise Unite” has ads but strangely our song of the same name on the Positive Mandate for Humanity” channel with a static picture also has the ads so it looks like they run at least a screen on the language and maybe one for nudity or violence before the ads go in. I got Bank of Montreal and Shopify commercials running before our video so they trust that the video won’t offend. The reason this interests me is because I run this teeny-tiny advertising company on the side and this issue has some major impact…..



A rainy stay at home day.




Goodnight…..





https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC5Dy4p92FFD1mCXNgvfkuuw/videos
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Mon Nov 01, 2021 8:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It looks like the basic structure of the written statement is set (paragraphs and such). Now we just check everything and sweat the details and make sure the word count is under the limit. It is important to get the statement in there as that is the only formal way to do it as the time limit in oral statements precludes such an involved statement so complex. Once the social contract is first disseminated officially and maybe talked about and known, then an oral statement later on makes sense but not yet. It’s only been six months since the book came out and seven months since the websites were registered. Given that timeline we are doing pretty well. A logical progression from the worldwide voting dissemination to the positive mandate and finally to the global social contract. Nothing will ever be perfect and the statement could always have been improved. But the idea should get disseminated and some will surely want to know more. This will not just be a UN thing but other venues matter also. This may become my hobby horse even into retirement - we will see…..







Apart from that, some practical things need to be done. With temperatures dropping to close to zero, I have to crawl under the Mustang and touch up the rust proofing. The tire situation can wait but this can’t. So do that and another long look at the statement. Also, you seem to get ads now if you play several music videos in a playlist on the record label channel on YouTube - no money for us though as we are still working on getting videos to 100 views! Remember that these videos are all about the advocacy so please check them out - and increasing subscribers from 30 would also help - just saying…..



Goodnight…..





https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCHNr8w4PL9Ez3TsCaCwQdTg
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Tue Nov 02, 2021 10:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The statement is basically done and I’m looking at tother statements to see how they do it and maybe get some ideas. I have to remind myself that this is a big deal. I remember I was at a concert night for one of my gang and another performer was saying how helpless he felt and that his life and everyone else’s were out of their control and I just thought: Hum - I really do seem to have something they don’t have. So we submit the statement and disseminate the idea at the UN of a new Global Social Contract…..




On to the other side of life found me under my car spraying rustproofing compound as the temp goes down to almost zero tonight and that is when the city goes crazy spraying salt brine on the roads. The floor pan is done now so don’t have to worry about that. But in the next week the doors and trunk and a few higher places get the treatment.



This is overkill for a car but it’s a sports car. You pamper these things and they always meet a hideous end twisted up at the side of the road. As I get older I question all this car love more. Such as a guy my age be tempting fate squeezing under my car to spray rustproofing compound? What if everything collapsed on me? Then you are preserving a car that will probably end up in the crusher before it would have rusted out anyway. I’ve been driving sports cars for over 30 years so I know how it goes. My first Mustang was this stripped 5.0 with virtually no options - not even a radio. It was one of the fastest cars in the street back then and only lasted me three months. One day In gave it a quick check for scratches and 20 minutes later it looked like a banana at the side of a highway. I had to climb out of a window as the doors were crushed - it always goes like that!



Anyway that is how it is here today…..




Goodnight…..





(NSFW)
https://youtu.be/DffqP1k0f5c
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Nov 03, 2021 8:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Statement is finished!




I’ll download the template and get everything ready for upload tomorrow. We used up all the space they give you but I’m OK with the final statement. I’ll keep reading it just in case something missed pops out but nothing is ever perfect and at some point you just send it warts and all…..



We did open the spectre of a third house at the UN. This was tried before over a period of twenty years and failed, but times and technology has changed and the idea of a Global Social Contract has more punch to this reality than ever before. There is no “gradually working your way up” here, you just put the idea out there without holding anything back. The worst that can happen is that it just gets ignored. Then we go directly to the Secretary General. You can find a discussion of this at the tail end of the voting side-event we held if interested. In the end the written statement is the way to go now as the oral statement limit is literally 25% of the written so we actually are just chugging along as fast as we can.





The Fates




I get a little older, the hair on my head gets a little bit thinner, the skin on your neck sags a little bit more every year - but the ideas still stay strong and relevant. For you young people out there, when you start your own ambitions you will get more of an idea just how hard this is. The years and money taken from you - and it all just goes faster the older you get - there is less time than you think. You see that there is more of a connection to you and us “old farts” than previously thought, you didn’t want to be associated because of the age difference. That is how it goes, we blithely ignore aging when young and only when it hits you in the face do you grudgingly accept it. I’ve been at this coming up on 20 years and this is as fast as it goes. By all rights it should have gone slower and handed it off to someone else. It’s kind of freakish how fast this is all happening since 2015. I’ve used modern ideas and strategy, and it seems to be paying off. Frankly given my situation where I started from I shouldn’t be doing any of this, a different animal completely. So I’m lucky this way and my health is great - still at 100%. So no holding back, pedal to the metal - anything can happen - and even then time catches up with you, nobody beats that devil…..






See those old folks on tte left - not as old as you think!




Anyway the statement goes up tomorrow and I turn my attention to base engrams for AI based on the positive mandate…..


Goodnight…..







https://youtu.be/q0Y3A-zib-Q

https://youtu.be/LSjd2qLXA6A
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Nov 04, 2021 12:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It’s done!


It’s sent!


The last big one for the UN has finally been disseminated.







What they do going forward is out of my control, but the idea of this new form of Global Social Contract has been disseminated at the United Nations!



This gift I give to you - and from me of all people!



More later…..





https://youtu.be/3GwjfUFyY6M
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Fri Nov 05, 2021 9:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I really had to be dragged kicking and screaming to post something now…..



I just don’t want to do anything. As usual, massive bad luck as soon as I sent it. It - the bad luck - just kept coming like when I scored with the positive mandate at the UN. Within 20 minutes of the end of the side-event and with the oral statement a day before - it started snowing and all flights cancelled. I was homeless now and sleeping at the airport. But Hotels.com let me use a free day I had coming up so I could stay one more day at the hotel. Then snow in Toronto and no taxi. Travel downtown and take the subway and bus to my neighbourhood. Then walk down the middle of snow covered streets with suitcases and laptop bag to my house with a snow drift instead of a drive way. I just made it inside, turned on the heat and just laid there! No celebration for one of the big scores of my life. That is how I feel now - just not as intense! Back then the deal with The Fates was to just let me disseminate the Positive Mandate properly, and I did get that so I should not complain. This time I am on my own - but no deals, just my own will going forward…..




The entrance to Conference Room 12!



So I’ll get into the specifics tomorrow, I just wish I could have had 30 minutes just to chill and celebrate that milestone. But no - just bad luck and bullshit all day long!





The Fates





Anyway…..





https://youtu.be/SJL1zlJx41g
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sat Nov 06, 2021 9:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I’m doing nothing this weekend. But I will open up more about the statement and why the massive melancholia occurred after that quick euphoria when I submitted.





Our written statement last year!




Understand I could only encapsulate the Global Social Contract in the space allotted for the written statement as it’s four times longer than the oral statement. Also the written statement is formally received by the Secretary General of the United Nations and says so on the receiving document. Furthermore, my right to make the statement (about the Global Social Contract) is given to me officially by UN resolution. So all this works for me, but when the exhilaration of that moment wears off it is replaced with a vacuum…..



The list of the minimum of things I had to do is actually complete! Most movies end with victory and the exhilaration that goes with it. There is a reason it ends there, because after that is a let down. James Bond movie - woman goes her way and Bond off to the next assignment. In movies without a series they supposedly mate for life with all the problems of family, religion, where to live and all of that - nobody in the theatre wants to be reminded of that!



So I’m now in the dreaded after party that goes on while masked by credits. So I’m just doing as little as I can this weekend. The downer never lasts but you just have to ride it out…..




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/4xSJkJKG5nw
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sun Nov 07, 2021 6:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I still did stuff on a day I wanted to do nothing.




Our flu shots at the same place last year!




First is that my sister told me the drive through flu clinic was open again this year so we all got in the car and got that done. This is a big time saver when you have a family to do all at once! It also seems that I get to book an appointment for a third booster shot in a week as I have two doses of AstraZeneca. They say it loses efficacy faster than the others but that is not a fact from my research. But a lot of politicians including our Premier who is in charge of the pandemic here (provincially) and also rich businessmen my age have these shots, so go figure. But it may be simply giving the third shot after six months and we were the first so there is always that - to be fair. So that got done and I then took a siesta till after three and decided to wax the car.







Waxing the car is a big pain in the ass and I only do it twice a year. You feel it in your arms and knees the next day from stretching over the car and rubbing it down. So I carefully hand washed it and the started the laborious take of applying paste and then rubbing it out. But I got it done just before dusk and with a shiny car you just have to go cruising. I start by going down to Starbucks and on the way came up to another guy in a Mustang GT and normally we lesser Mustang guys just stare straight ahead - but not me as I gave him a glance and all of a sudden he had to turn left! There is life lesson in there if you look hard enough…..Hahahahahaha….. To be fair the sixes have being discontinued for years, so he may not have known what I had under the hood, plus the exhaust note is also burbling and most think it’s a eight anyway.



Whatever…..



Then from Starbucks to Sunrise Records to check out movies and some vinyl that is popular again. I found an old movie “Cyborg 2087” and figured I would watch that as a prelude to the positive mandate AI stuff coming up. And that was Saturday. I have no idea what happens on Sunday. I’ll probably talk more about the social contract and the plans there going forward. As the things to do list gets done you wonder if you did the right thing giving up a traditional lifestyle. When I get this way others tell me to “F**k OFF!” But you still feel it. I guess it all comes down to perspective.



Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/AT7X6IOKL9s
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Mon Nov 08, 2021 8:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sunday of the weekend of doing nothing - got somethings done.



First is that I did the usual grocery shopping and then decided to replace a blown bulb in my dad’s car. This was actually the lower running lights and while there I would replace the fog lamp. This was a pain in the bum as you had to go through the inside fender and that means unscrewing screws that are probably rusted shut. One was and that was the one closest to the ground but I had enough room to get it done. I’ll oil the other side up and if the same screws trun I’ll do that side as a preemptive step. So there was that and a quick walk in the green belt with the folks because the weather was good.



Then I figured I’d take a photo of the car before it got dirty again. So when you wash and wax a black car - you take some photos and then go cruising. Now since I just finished the waxing as the sun went down the cruising came first and now it was time for the photos. A Mustang is a “blue collar” car so I like an indistrial setting for the car. Previously I took one at the train tracks with silos in the back. This time it’s at the wax factory and they came out great.







So now the car is dirty again but the cruise and photos meant it was not a wasted effort.



Other stuff…..




Fans at the stage barricades!



That Travis Scott concert inTexas. This is the nightmare every promoter worries about. For me at FOFSTOCK and The Lox it was someone with a gun. Yonge-Dundas Square can get crushing crowds but only with big name acts like Nickelback or Devo for example. But still my sister almost got crushed at a big time event, so I used crash barricades that were loosely connected and would collapse with a serge. Also, the square is not corralled in like some other venues. Be that as it may, outdoor concerts always seem to find a unique way for things to go wrong which is why I have a 20 million dollar special events insurance policy. I need that protection and I don’t intend to lose all my money and live in a rooming house for the rest of my life.




Fans at the stage barricades!



Frankly you have to be a bit crazy to do outdoor events. The weather can shut you down with rain or wind damage. The whole thing is insane and you never have a second to yourself! I may do this again but the handoff will soon happen. It’s not for the faint of heart. This is the promoter in me talking, for everyone else it’s an experience and on our side it’s an adventure. And after the concert most of my gang took off leaving me with just a director and Jessica to clean up and later make the proposal for reform of profanity clauses.




The stage barricades before we opened the festival!




Yes the music festival called FOFSTOCK got shut down. Then when it looked like the crowd might riot, the square tuned back on the mic’s and power - see how that works. Anyway the Radiohead concert was lawsuits and a commission report. I have no idea what happens to the promoters in Texas but when people die the families are out for blood. Better them than me, but do this long enough and something will happen to you…..




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/Rs6yHVZaidI
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Tue Nov 09, 2021 10:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

So I threw caution to the wind and decided to just put new tires on the old Mustang. The tread was not down to the wear marks but almost there and with winter coming I don’t need the risk and cost of a tow truck pulling me out of a snow bank or me sliding into another car or worse. So I just decided to bite the bullet and get it done.



So I get to the Canadian Tire store (this is so wrong to boy racers but I am past all of that pretentious stuff) before 9:00am and they still want three hours! If I had planned it better I would have taken my bus pass with me but - no - so I have to wait. But whatever, the tires are in stock and this time they are rated for 149mph because as soon as the warrantee expires next June the speed governor comes off! The car will go a genuine 157 miles per hour despite some saying 160mph it is always 157mph in the videos. If you disable the speed governor and just stand on it - that is how fast it will go. So getting speed rated tires for 150 is proper even though I’m not stupid enough to got that fast.





Also I’ve avoided the UN stuff because I needed a break, but realize just how “bad ass” what I am doing there is! A new Global Social Contract does not grow on trees. This is interesting stuff you don’t see every day. It just does not happen like in a TV show, as it takes time or even years. The last attempt at this took 20 years and ended in failure. It’s done for the time being. We just keep an eye on things but other stuff at the UN has our name on it.



Well now I’m down to less than 2 hours and I’m on the outside with other guys getting their tires done. Just another day. Oh and Drake is getting sued along with Travis Scott and Live Nation for that concert fiasco in Galveston Texas. What is it now with 8 dead and 17 injured? Not good and everyone’s worst nightmare. The lawyers are tallying up the insurance and personal assets of everyone involved and contacting other victims, this is how it always goes. Like I said, you really have to have a few screws loose in your head to do big concerts. Anyway I’m keeping my eye on this one.




Later…..





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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Nov 10, 2021 9:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The new tires are on the car.



This took a lot of thought but what I did was stick with the least desirable rims on a Mustang (the 17” version everyone sells immediately) and I added performance SUV tires on it!




These tires didn’t exist in the past but now I had an option nobody throught of before. The small rims actually are the lightest (except for carbon fibre on the GT500 and Cobra) so they actually accelerate, brake and turn better than any stock rim. Less mass to get spinning, less mass to get stopping and less “gyroscopic effect” because of less mass cornering. So why doesn’t everyone do this? Because it’s not the current fashion. Low profile F1 wheels work as intended cause they are made of exotic materials for light weight. We had magnesium in the past and now carbon fibre today. But to get that look with aluminum means an extremely heavy “frying pan” rim. To make matters worse the tire is now low profile that doesn’t pock past the rim. So the rim gets curbed very easily - and then we have the current trend to paint them black which just makes the damage look worse. Also since there is less tire wall to cushion potholes these wheels are easily damaged - along with the expensive tires. Stats like lateral G force grip don’t mean anything unless you track the car. Reality is most people loose their nerve at .3g and not .9g. The only stats that matter are safety as in rain, snow, stoping and blowouts. Everything else is just marketing bull-shit.



So keeping the rims from an engineering stand point made sense. But today a 50 series tire is an ordinary tire usually meant for comfort and not performance. The SUV market changed that so I found an SUV tire with really deep threads good for 120,000km and also V rated for 149mph! It got this and it is not really advertised because of the more ridged sidewalls to help a heavy SUV turn crisper. But for me it means a slightly harsher ride but crisper turn in and higher top speed! Tires ripple at high speed leading to blowouts, so a stiffer tire means less rippling and lower temperatures and thus safer high speeds. Plus this tire is excellent in rain and surprisingly good in snow and excellent on ice of all things.



There were only four tires left at the Canadian Tire store near me and they were on sale under the store’s name brand of MotorMaster. So you also had the stigma of a Costco like brand name tire. No matter, this tire has nothing but excellent reviews and I believe all of them. But to get the tires on the car meant 4 hours waiting. Don’t wait and the tires are sold to someone else. Wait and wait - waiting so long I ate Kentucky Fried Chicken on a concrete anchor of a sign outside waiting. After more than three hours the car finally went inside. But I kept an eye on these guys as one guy used the “tough and feel” method to get this one car inside - not reassuring! But mine made it unscathed, and then I got a call from the store: They wanted to know if I wanted an alignment on my perfectly aligned car - also - how about a brake job on brakes Midas Muffler declined as more than 75% of the pads were there and I lovingly had lube on the bolts for the bleed - hahahahaha. I just firmly told the girl it doesn’t need anything except the tires and then I heard her address the mechanic over the store intercom that I declined everything! After that I just stood at the roll up door making it obvious that was my car and I’m watching everything…..



So the tires got put on and after an agonizing wait for a used oil reclamation truck to get his hose out of the way, I got my car back. They always park the cars wedged in between each other so you are guaranteed to get body damage getting out. So I got to my car and painstakingly wiggled my way out to freedom. So I tested alignment - perfect. Brakes - perfect and so he didn’t nobble anything. Then I looked underneath. I had jacking rails to protect the pinch rails from getting crushed as they always do - but it looked like he used them. And maybe not by choice as these run the full length between the wheels. Also, in the other cars they like to raise the mounts to a knife position to keep the car from moving, but my car was so low they couldn’t damage it that way. There was also a steep incline to the garage and the guy backed the car out which came close to bottoming out in the back and front, but all was perfect. So then I looked at the body work and no signs I could see - I was getting relived - so I went home.



Back home I got some cleaner and cleaned the rims as they were dirty. I expected grind marks on the lips of the rims from having them take them off but this guy did it right and one by one the rims looked perfect. He also balanced them on the inside - thank you! I was getting really excited, it was as if the tires magically just appeared on the wheels! See, every-time I had work done on the car they always left some form of damage even if minor - always! It was like a law of physics. However this time the law may have been broken! But sure enough on the last wheel I noticed a tiny nick and a 4mm smudge on the rim like something slipped. It was so minor I used my sister’s nail polish to dab the two spots - literally - so the salt would not start corrosion. That was it and I should have been happy and relieved, but I was so close to that impossible reality that it bummed me out…..



So that was changing my tires. Like a death march by its length. I made two life long friends there as we waited for our cars. And each person looking like he won the lottery waving the rip-off bill of sale in their hand by finally getting his car back from that ordeal. And that was Tuesday…..



Goodnight…..
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Nov 11, 2021 10:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It’s Remembrance Day and on this day we remember those who fought in wars past and present. For me this is true for my “Uncle George” and our own Donald “Boots” Brasseur. Now this particular Remembrance Day has a personal story as to what happened to getting a poppy during the pandemic.



So a few days ago if figured it was time to get a poppy and stick it on my jacket and hope that it stayed on till November 12. The problem here is that those boxes only accepted coins and who uses real money these days as it’s all debit and credit cards during the pandemic. Every time I came across a box I would forget to have a dollar or 2 buck coin to throw in there. Anyway I was taking the family to the mall and figured I’d get one there as they had a table set up with an old veteran and box for poppy donations. So again we get to the man and naturally I forgot my change but my sister had her purse and she rummaged around and guess what - no change. No problem as my dad was with us and had a fat wallet that still had bills - but surprisingly he had no coins in the wallet - that actually was a shock! He sheepishly offered some credit cards but that does not work here. So when we left I figured I would get some money in the car and race back to the vet and get the poppy. Normally in the Buick we would have a sea of change stored in the console, but when we got there all we had was six cents. I’m not throwing that in the box and pennies don’t even exist as currency anymore.








So the trip to the mall turned into yet another poppy fiasco for me and time was running out! Panicking, I remembered you could get a digital poppy! So the plan was to get the digital poppy on the phone as a fall back if I got called out on being poppy-less until I got a real poppy. You go to this website and create a custom poppy with the vet’s name on it and make your donation and save the image. But it gets more complicated than that. Soon you are giving up your email and creating a password to log into your account - log into your account - I just wanted a poppy! Turns out they store your poppy and you can upload pictures and bios of the person there. Me thinks they will hit you for for a yearly donation with this set up but my whatever. This probably works out for me as I represent several organizations and we do keep Don’s life experience alive with the videos and website and radio play, so this kind of works for me - but your mileage may vary. Oh - almost forgot the end of the story - so I scoped out a gas station and no poppies, but there right beside it was a Tim Hortons! They had to have a box and sure enough they did. So I shamelessly waltzed past the line to the counter and took two poppies for three dollars, gave the line a superior sneer when I turned around waltzed back out there and on to Starbucks who don’t have the poppy donation box. And that was my 2021 poppy adventure.







Anyway my “Uncle George” (actually more like my mother’s uncle) fought in WW2 and his older brother was in WW1. He was an American and if you look closely you will see his sergeant stripes that I never noticed till my best friend pointed it out.







Regulars here will know about our own Donald “Boots” Brasseur. This man actually landed on the beaches of Normandy during D-Day operations and was met with snipper fire. When they got to shore they handled the sniper with Don going along and he tells his tale in a documentary we did on him. His experience most closely matched that old show called “Combat” and his tour ended with him getting injured at Falaise. After the war Don became a harmonic musician playing high end venues in the last days of vaudeville and then well into retirement which is when he met me and we resurrected his musical career with two CDs and a TV show on CTV and a documentary on Prime. Don also performed at FOFSTOCK to open the music festival. Outside of our organization Don was a finalist on Senior Star and apart from the physical show it was broadcast on Vision TV here in North America.



You can see Don’s documentary on YouTube here:

https://youtu.be/ob6YtkVy6m0



You can have a listen to one of Don’s musical spots on AM740 here:

https://donaldbrasseur.com/DonBrasseurAM740.wma



And you can visit Don’s website here:

https://donaldbrasseur.com



Please give the documentary a view of at least 40 seconds to count as a view, give a like or subscribe as these stats matter to getting his story out into the YouTube algorithms and gain a proper and larger audience. Remember those who fought on this Remembrance Day, Don lied about his age and went to war as a minor to fight for our freedoms we enjoy today. How many people would do that today? He is certainly worthy of a few moments of your time!




Goodnight….
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Maurice Ali



Joined: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 7655
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Fri Nov 12, 2021 11:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was going to do a long-winded diatribe on things but instead will change some more exterior lights in my dad’s car before the temperatures get too cold.



Yes, time for that last mowing of the lawn. Time to throw a lot of junk out as part of fall cleaning. There is nothing worse than working on a car with stinging fingers due to the cold. So you do it now whenever the weather allows. That means the long winded diatribe will wait till later.



Cars are fun if you are into it but even so I hate doing work on cars in cold weather. I hate bad batteries in winter and that’s why I replaced the battery. You wait hours for the tow truck and then you have to replace it anyway. Don’t use jumper cables anymore on new cars as it’s too easy to fry electronics. Same with the tires I replaced this Tuesday. It was getting down to the wear marks but still not there yet and the cheap side of you says gamble and see if you can eek out another year and finish on bald tires. But getting stuck in snow and getting towed out at high cost and damage to the lower skirt and chin spoiler is not fun - then you have to replace the tires anyway. Say you made it through the winter taking more bus trips when it snows, and now you are on bald tires ready to hydroplane your way to a totalled car as your reward - I don’t think so. So new tires and on sale and with very little collateral damage.



So you do what has to be done as I’m old enough to know better having all the scenarios listed above happening to me in the past. You know the saying: “There’s no fool like an old fool!”



In other news: I may be able to get my booster shot as a walk-in on Sunday and if that fails I get it at the local hospital on Monday morning. So we shall see how this goes as I’m one of the first in line where I live. Lots of people with two shots are not crazy for a third. Lots more not crazy about getting their kids vaccinated even though they are. This whole next chapter of the pandemic should be interesting. Early on the best case for vaccinations was two shots of AstraZeneca followed by a Pfizer shot. I don’t know if they figured on five and a half months for the Pfizer shot but here we go - human guinea pig for sure….. And it will probably be “Hunger Games Part 3” with me and the other early adopters, sometimes it pays to wait a while, as long as you don’t get Covid 19 - there’s always that!



What am I listening to right now - “Bring Down the Birds” by Herbie Hancock - if you were curious.




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/1foayJLtUDc
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